Original X-COM creator's Chaos Reborn launches on Kickstarter

Chaos Reborn, the new turn-based strategy game from the creator of the original X-COM, has launched on Kickstarter.

There, British designer Julian Gollop is asking for $180,000 to turn his prototype, which he has been working on with a small team in his home of Sofia, Bulgaria, into a full release by May 2015 on PC, Mac and Linux.

Chaos Reborn is the follow up to Gollop's cult classic 1985 ZX Spectrum strategy title Chaos: The Battle of Wizards, which pre-dated UFO: Enemy Unknown.

It's a fast-paced turn-based strategy role-playing game in which players control a wizard who casts spells to summon creatures, among other things, in a last wizard standing multiplayer battle set within an arena.

One of the cool things about the game is the bluff and deception mechanic. Wizards can summon creatures as illusions with a 100 per cent chance of success, but opponent wizards can use Disbelieve to easily destroy suspected enemy illusions.

At the moment the prototype is head-to-head multiplayer only, but the plan is to add a campaign, co-op play, an item trading system and guilds.

Gollop's pitch video, below, includes an endorsement from Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine - a big fan of the original XCOM.